To be honest, I didn't watch much of President Trump's State of the Union address, but I did watch some.
I opted to go to the Flomaton High School gym Tuesday night because I thought I would get more entertainment there than watching the president talk, which I assume was followed by a Democratic response saying he was an idiot. By time the Democrats made their response I was either watching a re-run of the Andy Griffith Show or possibly asleep.
If you are a Flomaton Hurricane fan, there was a great show on tap Tuesday night as Flomaton defeated T.R. Miller 113-33 in the opening round of the area tournament. I thought so, but I checked Wednesday morning and confirmed that the 113 points in a game set a school record.
Flomaton can also set a new Hurricane basketball record tonight (Thursday) if it beats Thomasville in the area finals. Flomaton sits at 21-7 on the year, tying the 2011 team that finished 21-9 for the most wins.
The beauty about sports is when the final seconds tick off the clock or the final out is made on the baseball diamond there is a winner and there is a loser – nothing in between unless somehow they end in a tie. There is always some debate about why and how somebody won or lost and normally that finger is pointed toward the official. I'll agree, New Orleans got robbed and should have been in the Super Bowl, but I also know when it was all said and done, the Rams had more points on the scoreboard than the Saints.
It amazes me how sports fans, including me, get so hung up on that late penalty or no penalty when the team had multiple opportunities to win the game earlier. That false start penalty in the first quarter that turned a third and 1 into a third and 6 and eventual punt is crucial. But we forget those mistakes.
Political speeches are different. There is no clear winner or loser. Those who support the candidate will say he won, those who oppose the candidate say he lost and we're all left scratching our heads.
The several minutes I did watch Tuesday night happened to come when President Trump was sounding off about not letting the United States become a socialistic nation. Give the cameraman a raise, because he switched the lens on Bernie Sanders and I thought ole Bernie was going to throw up right there. The camera then switched back to Nancy Pelosi and she looked like she had the flu.
I've read a few reviews of Trump's speech and, as predicted, those on the left thought it was terrible and those on the right thought is was great. But I listened to some public radio commentary Wednesday and it appears that Trump scored big among people who don't claim to be right-wing Republicans or left-wing Democrats. Several of the people talking, including political science professors and multiple universities gave Trump the thumbs up, saying he looked, acted and talked presidential. They said he looked in command and some said they didn't expect Trump to do so well in reaching out to touch people on both sides on the political aisle.
At some point I'll sit down and listen to the speech because my curiosity is up. Trump got to the White House by being brash and saying things most politicians couldn't get away with. But from the polls they talked about on public radio, Trump nailed it Tuesday night. The word 'presidential' kept coming up and that's not a word that has been attributed toward Trump in his first three years. I put some stock in those comments because some of the people saying them said they never believed those words would come out of their mouths.
Some say polls don't matter, but they do. People like to ride with a winner and if everybody else says Trump is the winner they will jump on the bandwagon. I haven't seen the latest popularity poll but from what I heard on the radio Wednesday, Trump's numbers will rise.
That's enough to make Pelosi and Sanders feel sick to their stomachs.
